I think I have established by the two month gap between blogs that I am, in fact, a bad blogger. My excuse? I have a million of 'em, but who really cares? Suffice it to say that my kids were sick, my mom was sick, and now I have a cold that's not really bad but enough to wipe me out pretty darned well.

Whine whine whine. Yeah, I know. I'll get over it.

So the effect of all this busy at work, busy at home, busy with parents thing is that my writing has slowed way down. I'm doing NaNo this year simply to get my rear end in my chair and write every day. If I could count the words I've written in psych reports for the evil day job, I think I'd be at 50K already. But no such luck.

As for submitting ANOTHER TIME AROUND and LET'S DISH… well, that's not happening much, either. I got a big fat rejection on the Dish from an agent who will remain nameless simply because after having it exclusively for three months, I asked her if I could submit it elsewhere. She got ticked and told me in no uncertain terms that she didn't appreciate that. Too. Damned. Bad. Glad I found out about that before I would ever need to work with her, if it came to that. Not that I mind the rejection, or even the time it took her to read it, but to demand an exclusive that long is ridiculous.

So I need to get off my duff and start sending it elsewhere. Another agent has a partial right now, and I know from a very reputable source that this woman is fabulous with a capital terrific, so I am anxiously awaiting her reply.

Then there's "writer drama." What is writer drama, you ask? Try joining a writing group sometime. Guaranteed there is at least one whack-o in it. In my case, there were several, and two of them in particular had gathered quite a following. Sometimes, when the crazies take over the asylum, it is better to get while the gettin's good. I didn't. I tried to stick it out, tried to do my job, and landed smack dab in the middle of writer drama. The wronged party was wronged further, the culprit now has an even stronger following, and I've managed to tick off a good number of people. Still, I have learned exactly who I value in this business, which is worth more to me than some writing group.

So now it is time to re-group, as it were. To get my cobwebs out of my brain and to dig in and get serious again. Life gets in the way, and sometimes that's a good thing. After all, my kids are only going to be small once and my brain will keep cranking out fiction for as long as I live–God willing! The fact that I am no longer as desperately hungry for a writing career as I used to be is the classic double-edged sword. Good in so many ways, but it dulls my sense of urgency. Of getting my tuchus in that chair and writing no matter what.

It's off with me to find a happy medium. Right after dinner. And dishes. And Cub Scouts… OY!